The Chinese government is flooding the internet with 448 million fake social media comments a year

A
large screen on a building shows a propaganda image of the
Chinese People's Liberation Army on a heavily polluted day in
Beijing, Dec. 26, 2015.Reuters/Kim
Kyung-Hoon

The internet is full
of bullies and blowhards spouting political opinions. And some of
those loudmouths are even getting paid by their government for
doing so.

The Chinese government floods the internet with about 448 million
fake social media comments every year, according to a new study by Harvard University researcher
Gary King and his team.

Using leaked emails from a Chinese Internet Propaganda Office,
the researchers found more than 43,000
members of China's "50 Cent Party," so called because social
media posts from these internet moles cost 50 cents apiece.

These government operatives often work full time, receive directives each
morning from the government and create elaborate arguments and
group discussions to influence onlookers.

This could mean jumping into existing conversations to guide
public thought or creating new conversations entirely. As one
government troll told Chinese activist Ai Wei Wei:

Usually after an event has happened, or even before the news has
come out, we'll receive an email telling us what the event is,
then instructions on which direction to guide the netizens'
thoughts, to blur their focus, or to fan their enthusiasm for
certain ideas. After we've found the relevant articles or news on
a website, according to the overall direction given by our
superiors we start to write articles, post or reply to comments.
This requires a lot of skill.

"The goal of this massive secretive operation is instead to
regularly distract the public and change the subject, as most of
the these posts involve cheerleading for China, the revolutionary
history of the Communist Party or other symbols of the regime,"
the study's authors wrote.

People
walk in front of a large screen displaying propaganda slogans on
Beijing's Tiananmen Square Nov. 12, 2012.Reuters/David Gray

This problem isn't unique to China — in Russia, there's an entire
industry of hired guns that will reinforce political messages
with armies of internet trolls.

We even have online propaganda here at home.

In April, a pro-Hillary Clinton Super PAC bragged that it would spend $1 million
this campaign cycle on social media commenters who will "push
back against attackers" and rush into online conversations about
Clinton, "responding quickly and forcefully to negative attacks
and false narratives."

Bernie Sanders supporters on
Reddit responded with accusations of a much
broader conspiracy, saying that fake troll armies are largely
responsible for the negative "Bernie Bro" narrative.